


Simplicity in Complexity

by romanstopmeowing



Category: Liar Game, 라이어 게임 | Liar Game (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:40:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28629681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romanstopmeowing/pseuds/romanstopmeowing
Summary: There is no term for what they are – beyond partners, and yet lesser than lovers, and Akiyama supposes that should make them friends, but Fukunaga’s sly words echo in his ear: 'Friends don’t look at each other like that.'Akiyama x Nao 50 sentences.
Relationships: Akiyama Shinichi/Kanzaki Nao
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	Simplicity in Complexity

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so very taken with this couple and think it's a travesty that their relationship wasn't further explored in the series. 
> 
> The first chapter's 50 sentences will focus on Akiyama's perspective, and the second chapter's will focus on Nao's.

1 – Stranger  
Aiding the helpless – no matter how helpless – has never been how Akiyama has seen his own character, and though he doesn’t know what it was about this particular helpless woman that compelled him to do so, he definitely doesn’t know why he’s thinking about her more often than not these days. 

2 – Duo  
He isn’t blind to the fact that the others see him as the most promising player in the game and Nao as his shadow, but Akiyama has been coming to the slow conclusion that they have it very, very wrong. 

3 – Dreams  
Akiyama dreams of her – dreams of pulling off her shirt and her pulling off his, of kissing her neck and hearing her sighs in his ear, of straying hands and seeking lips, of ragged breaths and pounding hearts – and when he awakes, he is evermore aware of the distance between them when she greets him with a friendly ‘Akiyama-san’.

4 – Betrayal  
He’s not hurt that Nao’s chosen to collude with Fukunaga to trick the other team – shut up, he isn’t – but Akiyama realises too late that he’s given too much away when he asks, ‘would it have hurt to consult me?’ and remembers all the time that she’s never expressed betrayal at his tricking her with his own cunning. 

5 – Colour  
She’s the very embodiment of colour – in style, in character, and certainly in spirit, and Akiyama is too late to realise that she’s the only shades that he now views the world in.

6 – Age  
Sometimes Akiyama is keenly aware of their age difference and thinks she’s better suited to someone younger, someone with a promising future who could give her a better life, and she sees the distance in his eye and kisses him with the assurance that she doesn’t want a better life, she wants one with him in it.

7 – Hope  
Nao’s naivete has been their pitfall at almost every turn, and one would think Akiyama is exasperated, nay, furious with her for it; one would be wrong, because no matter how many times it’s landed them in debt, put them in the way of betrayal and risked their lives, Akiyama’s emotions have only developed into immense admiration for her outlook – and he is ever grateful that her idealism has kept him from drowning in the hopelessness of the game.

8 – Kiss  
There are so many reasons not to that the rationale in his mind has no choice but to overpower the immense, illogical need to close the ever-shrinking space between their lips, but as Nao takes the brave step to move her face even closer, Akiyama thinks he’s tired of listening to rationale.

9 – Time  
The passage of time has long since stopped mattering while in the game, except that Akiyama knows he now measures it in Nao – in stolen glances, warm smiles, rasped breaths, and once out of the confines of the game, in shivering touches and soft kisses.

10 – Pink  
In the early hours of the morning, he awakes to the touch of her fingers tracing a light scar on his shoulder from when he was a reckless child, and he grabs her hand to press a kiss to her palm. 

11 – Regret  
He considers walking away, except that he imagines the life ahead of him, one without her in it, and thinks perhaps it won’t be a bad one, but that he will lay on his deathbed as an old man dreaming of a young woman in a dress and a brilliant smile – and he’ll be weighed down by lost chances and disappointment. 

12 – Grave  
Akiyama watches Nao puts the flowers by his mother’s headstone and bow before she says that she wishes they could’ve met.

13 – Lovely  
Nao radiates like a blinding light, all sunshine, and warmth and softness, and Akiyama loses himself night after night in the sheer loveliness of her.

14 – Titles  
They’ve agreed to meet after work at the restaurant, and as Akiyama walks up to the table that Nao has been seated at, he hears her say ‘I’ll wait for my husband to order,’ and his body warms with affection and resounding pride.

15 – Love  
Against all the odds, she’s become his biggest weakness, and his greatest strength, but Akiyama is yet to accept that he needs her much, much more than she’s ever needed him to stay afloat.

16 – Life  
The first time he feels their baby kick in Nao’s stomach is when they’re laying in bed and he’s holding her to his chest, and she looks at him over her shoulder with an excited gasp, waiting for his response; all he can do is press his face into the curve of her neck and smile.

17 – Kindness  
His arms are around her middle as she leans against his chest in their bed, and Nao presses her cheek into his shoulder and says, ‘you’re a kind person,’, only to have him press a chuckled kiss against her hair and reply, ‘don’t let it get around.’

18 – Courage  
The consensus on Nao is that she’s an irrevocably honest person whose naivete is rooted in irreversible stupidity, but Akiyama, who considers himself the most knowledgeable on the matters of Kanzaki Nao as of late, would argue – if ever pushed to do so – that it’s based in boundless bravery and the courage to trust.

19 – Hands  
There is no more glorious a feeling, Akiyama thinks, than the feel of Nao’s hands trailing down his body, and the heat that passes between them when they’re pressed skin to skin.

20 – Declaration  
'You're it for me, and I'll give it my all to make this work - so what do you say, Nao?'

21 – Peck  
Nao is not the first woman that Akiyama has been with – she’s not even the first woman he’s loved – but their relationship is a series of firsts for him, beginning with the gentle kiss she presses to his forehead before she leaves for class in their first week as a couple. 

22 – Anxiety  
Akiyama isn’t given to apprehension, but there’s no other word he can find to describe the unsettling sense of loss that pervades his mind at the thought that one day, the Liar Game will come to an end, and with it, the only link that ties him to Kanzaki Nao.

23 – Endless  
In a place where he out to be consumed by the bleakness of the game and the spiralling viciousness that threatens to upturn every person’s longest-instilled morals, including his own, Akiyama only sees a Kanzaki Nao that smiles, and the hope that comes with it. 

24 – Mourn  
He’s good at disguising his emotions, Akiyama is, but his mask slips when his fingers graze against Nao’s and she glances at him with a look that he recognises as the reflection of his own yearning, and they’re both struck with keen awareness of where they stand – and where they both want to go.

25 – Oath  
Somewhere along the line, Akiyama’s commitment to Nao had morphed from agreeing to help her with one round, to swearing to protect her with all his life – if only she knew that rather than looking at him with that uncertainty that he’d disappear, because Akiyama wasn’t going anywhere.

26 – Pleasant  
They’re in the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner and idly chatting, and as Nao puts away the dishes he’s washing, Akiyama thinks his mum would’ve loved her.

27 – Fire  
They’re standing so close that the moment charges and she reaches out to gently touch him – as she traces the curve of his brows, the gentle slope of his cheek, the softness of his lower lip, the outline of his jaw, Akiyama’s skin begins to dream.

28 – Friends  
There is no term for what they are – beyond partners, and yet lesser than lovers, and Akiyama supposes that should make them friends, but Fukunaga’s sly words echo in his ear: 'Friends don’t look at each other like that.'

29 – Unsaid  
It must mean something, Akiyama thinks, that the certainty of he and Nao’s bond, the strength of their partnership and the absolute trust that they’ve nurtured, should feel so effortless that it never needed to have been spoken. 

30 – Steps  
Akiyama has always thought three steps ahead – nay, 10 steps, he’s sure – but even he didn’t have the mental resilience to fully consider the future once, if, the game was over, except that he now finds himself on a cliff with Nao, knowing for certain that he can’t let her go now.

31 – Protection  
It’s not the tears that undo him – as abundant as they are – but the naked despair that weighs in her stare as she realises that he tried to save her in the Garden of Eden, and he wonders how she could think he wouldn’t.

32 – Path  
She has more forgiveness and sincerity than he can ever imagine to harbour, but even so, as stupid and naïve as she may be along with it, Akiyama finds a moral compass in Kanzaki Nao that always leads him in the right direction.

33 – Hold  
In the dim light, Nao is still with anticipation as he trails lips up her thighs, until her body betrays a tremble – Akiyama reaches for her hands and entwines their fingers tightly, and the gasps she releases as he works his mouth over her heat is the single most satisfying sound in the world.

34 – Urgent  
They’ve made a mess of the sheets in their tumble and the sweat is just now starting to dry on their skin, but Nao’s knowing kiss to his chest reignites the fire in his blood. 

35 – Impression  
She may look at him with god-like reverence, but there is no two ways about it – her impact on him has been profound, and no matter what the future may hold, Akiyama knows he’ll never forget Kanzaki Nao.

36 – Calls  
He’s just taken her home after receiving a call that she fainted in class, and Akiyama is trying very, very hard not to read too significantly into the fact that he is her emergency contact.

37 – Comfort  
‘They said I’m the only one who could save you, Akiyama-san,’ she says with trepidation, and while he could roll his eyes at Nao’s gullibility, he isn’t above admitting to himself that he’s relieved to know he will not continue the game alone.

38 – Memory  
It’s been four years since he’s seen Kanzaki Nao, and try as he may, he still wakes up from dreams with the echo of her voice and the memory of their hug, the feel of her forehead against his chest a lasting impression.

39 – Sky  
Laying on a grassy hill, they spend the evening with idle chatter and her pointing out constellations that he insists are incorrect and she insists are part of the imagination.

40 – Dress  
She’s mine, Akiyama thinks with wonder as he watches Nao walk up the aisle.

42 – Anniversary  
It’s the first anniversary of his mother’s death that she spends with him, and while he’s not inclined to crying, the weight of Nao’s supportive hand on his arm is comfort enough for his still-fresh grief.

43 – Romance  
He’s not a romantic, but when he passes a flower arrangement at the front of a florist shop that he thinks Nao would like, he doesn’t hesitate to head inside. 

44 – Break  
One day, he thinks, the LGT are going to break him, slip him up and exploit a moment of weakness, and when he sees Nao in the Garden of Eden despite never making it to the final round, he thinks she’ll be the means to his end. 

45 – Opinion  
It’s abundantly clear that her father doesn’t like the idea of Nao being with a former convict, her friends even less so, but Akiyama is not deterred – he’s nothing if not committed, and he plans to remain in Nao’s life for a very long time. 

46 – Umbrella  
Akiyama walks Nao home holding the umbrella over their heads, and when they stand in front of her door in silence, Akiyama knows it means something that she’s hesitant to part from him despite the relentless rain. 

47 – Rumours  
Akiyama’s never one to waste time on baseless matters, but seeing Nao’s discomfort at Fukunaga’s unsavoury jokes about their relationship during the Contraband Game makes Akiyama takes matters into his own hands.

48 – Learning  
He knows she’s come far when Nao is the one leaving psychology books out for him to read with coloured, cute sticky notes where she insists that he’ll find them enjoyable. 

49 – Crime  
His criminal record has been an obstacle he’s felt all too acutely as he interviews for jobs, and while he’s not one to take such things personally, he’s charmed that Nao advocates for him so viciously every time he receives another rejection email. 

50 – Bonds  
They’ve only been married for three months, but Akiyama is certain that some marriages are meant to be, and he’s ever more certain that he’ll never tire of domestic like with Kanzaki Nao.

**Author's Note:**

> Second chapter with 50 sentences from Nao's point of view coming soon!


End file.
